Kill 'Em All (album)
Kill 'Em All is Metallica's debut album, released on July 25, 1983 on Megaforce Records. Metallica's original line-up featured James Hetfield (vocals/rhythm guitar), Dave Mustaine (lead guitar), Ron McGovney (bass), and Lars Ulrich (drums). Because of tensions with Mustaine, McGovney left the band. Castro Valley-born bassist Cliff Burton was recruited as his replacement. Mustaine was fired in April 1983 for his drug and alcohol problems, overly aggressive behavior, and clashes with bandmates. After Mustaine's departure, Metallica recruited Kirk Hammett, who previously played for Exodus and was a one time student of Joe Satriani. The band started recording the album with Hammett barely a month later. Hammett's guitar solos on the album were partially based on Mustaine's original solos (the first four bars of most solos were written by Mustaine). After Mustaine was fired, he went on to form the band Megadeth, which also achieved multi-million selling success. Writing process Despite their differences, Mustaine's contributions to the early years of Metallica were still acknowledged; he received co-writing credits on four of the songs on Kill 'Em All. The songs "The Four Horsemen", "Jump in the Fire", "Phantom Lord" and "Metal Militia" were primarily written by Mustaine, most of "The Four Horsemen" was written by Dave Mustaine when he was in his previous band Panic. "The Mechanix" was performed at many early Metallica shows, but following Mustaine's exit, the band added a mid-paced, melodic middle section. Hetfield also wrote new lyrics for both "The Mechanix" and "Jump in the Fire" (a song originally about teenage sexual frustration), and retitled "The Mechanix" as "The Four Horsemen". Recording process The album was recorded in only two weeks on a shoestring budget. Originally, the band printed 1,500 copies. The band was said to have recorded each of their respective parts in days, James getting three days to do the rhythm guitars, two days to do vocals. Lars getting two days to record drums, Kirk getting a day for solos, and Cliff two for bass. The band was also barred from the mixing room during the album's recording, being the only time in the band's history they didn't have a say in how the final mixes of their songs would come out. Album title The band initially intended to title the album Metal Up Your Ass, with the cover featuring a toilet bowl with a hand clutching a dagger emerging from it. However, Megaforce urged them to change this and they agreed, switching to Kill 'Em All. This time, the cover featured the shadow of a hand letting go of a bloodied hammer. Burton is credited with coming up with the name Kill 'Em All (referring to timid record distributors, saying "why don't we just kill 'em all?") as a response to the whole situation. Even though the original title was unused, the band did later release a "Metal Up Your Ass" t-shirt with the proposed artwork. A live recording of a 1982 performance is in existence, titled Metal Up Your Ass (Live), and includes the originally intended cover artwork. Original pressings of the album came with an inner sleeve that included pictures and lyrics as well as a silver label on the vinyl. Subsequent pressings had a blank white sleeve and standard album label. The 1988 re-release re-introduced the lyrics and photos. The original release can be distinguished by the words "Bang That Head That Doesn't Bang" at the top of the back cover. This was dropped from the re-release. Tracklisting Elektra Bonus Tracks iTunes Bonus Tracks Deluxe Edition Disc 1 Disc 2 Live 9.02.1984 in Paris, France Disc 3 Live 9.02.1984 in Paris, France Disc 4 Disc 5 Disc 6 Disc 7 Disc 8 Live 20.01.1984 in Middletown, The United States Disc 9 Live 31.10.1983 in Palo Alto, The United States Disc 10 Live 12.08.1983 in Chicago, The United States Tour Kill 'Em All was supported by Metallica's first tour dubbed the Kill 'Em All for One Tour, a co-headlining tour with Raven. The tour spanned 31 shows from July 27, 1983 to September 3, 1983, and would include acts such as Anthrax and Exodus. As well as the Seven Dates of Hell tour. Trivia *The 1989 re-issue of the album by Elektra Records added the cover songs "Blitzkrieg" and "Am I Evil?" Both of these Metallica covers were previously released as Garage Days Revisited. *The album was recorded in only two weeks on a shoestring budget. Originally, the band printed 1,500 copies. *This is the first album that guitarist Kirk Hammett doesn't receive a songwriting credit (the other album being 2016's Hardwired…to Self-Destruct), as he was not in the band when the songs for Kill 'Em All were being written. *Since release, Kill 'Em All has been certified 3x Platinum. Personnel *James Hetfield – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar *Kirk Hammett - Lead Guitar *Cliff Burton – Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals *Lars Ulrich - Drums Production *Paul Curcio, Jon Zazula – producers *Chris Bubacz – engineer *Alex Perialas (first pressing, credited as "Alex Perialis"), Bob Ludwig (all other releases) – mastering *George Marino – remastering *Andy Wroblewski – assistant engineer References Category:Albums Category:Studio Albums Category:Kill 'Em All Category:Needs References